A total of 1,250 Bedoun residents of Kuwait were on the verge of being deprived the opportunity to perform Hajj pilgrimage this year because of the problem they faced in obtaining visas on time, reports Aljarida daily quoting informed sources.

They revealed that the electronic machines were unable to detect their nationality from their passports and were inputting ‘xxx’ instead, which was the main cause for the delay in the issuance of visas, adding that this problem was solved two days ago through temporary change in the process. Meanwhile, Al-Rai daily reported that the Director of Hajj Affairs at Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs and Deputy Chairman of Kuwaiti Hajj Mission Roumi Al-Roumi declared that the problem faced by Bedoun residents who wanted to perform Hajj pilgrimage this year has been solved and their visas have been issued. He explained that the Saudi authorities approved to temporarily cancel the automated system for issuance of visas for the Bedoun pilgrims and decided to carry out the related process manually.

Al-Roumi said the problem was settled through fruitful cooperation with the concerned Saudi authorities when they decided to issue the visas manually. Meanwhile, Kuwait Hajj Mission is completely ready to receive the Kuwaiti pilgrims in Makkah and other holy sites in Saudi Arabia, Deputy Chief of Kuwaiti Hajj Mission Roumi Al-Roumi said here on Wednesday.